Ichiruki Christmas
by sallythedestroyerofworlds23
Summary: Exactly what it says on the title. My second attempt at an ichiruki fic,hope you like it! Likely to have some OOCness.


"ICHIGOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The orange-haired teen barely heard the obnoxious scream before feeling his face connect with a modest sized fist.

"AAGH! You crazy Old man!" he shouted back, kicking his sorry excuse of a father in his midsection. "Can't a guy come into his house without his own father attacking him?!!!" Several veins throbbed visibly on his head, while he mercilessly jammed his foot into the old doctor's face.

"Ichigo! My son! Why must you be so harsh? Do you see, Masaki! How our children speak to their own father!"

After a few more minutes of this, Ichigo finally managed to escape into the solace of his own room, still muttering to himself.

"Ichigo!"

So much for solace.

The small, raven-haired girl slipped out of her makeshift bedroom, which had to be, of course, inside _his _room.

"Ichigo," she said again, in her 'serious' voice. He looked up at her, not daring to lie back on his bed, like he very much wanted to, expecting to hear about hollows.

"What?"

"I need you to answer a question for me." she continued, still looking at him seriously. It started to make him uneasy.

"Well? If you have something to say, then say it. Midget." he added the last bit as an afterthought.

"Why is there a lighted tree in the middle of the living room downstairs?"

Ichigo had to stiffle a laugh now- and was not entirely succesful- resulting in a tiny fist connecting with his head.

"What's so funny?!" Rukia asked-more like yelled, at him.

Choking back the rest of his laughter, he relaxed and collapsed onto his bed, putting his hands under his head and closing his eyes before answering; "It's a Christmas tree. Never seen one before?" Another chuckle.

"Baka! We don't have Chrustmas trees in Soul Society!"

He heard her say unnecessarily loud.

"First of all, it's _Christmas_;" he left his comfortable position to sit up and look at her. ", second of all, don't tell me you guys don't have Christmas in Soul Society?" he said the last part more like a question.

Rukia slowly shook her head, violet eyes wide. "What's Christmas?"

Wow. She really didn't know.

Ichigo scratched the back of his head and looked around, trying to compose an answer. "Well, Chritsmas happens once every year. Everyone puts up pine trees and decorates them in celebration. Then on the actual day, it's mostly about having to have embarrassing family dinners and opening presents." He shrugged. "I can't believe you've never had Christmas." _What the hell do you guys do in Soul Society?_

"Presents?" Rukia asked, still curious.

"Umm, yeah. Everyone gives gifts to their friends and family on Christmas. Mostly it's just a lot of junk and sweaters that you want to return- Oi! Rukia!" He watched her open his window and climb outside, turning momentarily to turn at the sound of her name. "Where the hell are you going?"

"Somewhere." she answered vaguely. It annoyed him.

"It's freaking cold outside! At least take a jacket." He said with unspoken care.

"Uh, I don't have one." Rukia said dumbly.

Another vein popped on Ichigo's forehead. "Wha- What happened to the one you took from Yuzu?"

"I think Chappy lost it while I was fighting a hollow."

Chappy being the hyperactive bunny soul candy that Rukia for some reason was obsessed with.

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Fine. Just take mine." He picked up the dark jacket draped carelessly over the chair next to his bed. He tossed it at her nonchalantly.

Even perched on his window sill, the shinigami caught it with is ease. She got the strangest look in her eyes as she stared at the fabric in her hands. "Thanks." she murmured so softly he wondered if he was meant to hear. Then she was off.

Weird. She was one annoying pain in the ass.

Then why did he suddenly find himself smiling?

***

_Christmas Eve_

_Ichigo's room_

"Oi, Midget. What are you doing in there?" he spoke to the closed door of his closet, listening in for whatever answer came from the girl on the other side.

Nothing.

"Hey! Rukia!" He was starting to get worried. Though he usually respected her private space in his closet, but Ichigo Kurosaki would not be ignored. "Oi!" he brusquely slid the door open, and immediately saw the small girl jump in surprise, and in the same motion managed to hide something behind her back.

"Hey! Quit peeping, you Idiot!" she shouted then proceeded to kick the door closed, narrowly missing his nose in the process.

"What?!" he shouted, glad she couldn't see the red tinge on his face. "I wasn't peeping! You crazy Midget! What are you hiding, anyway?"

Again silence.

"Argh, forget it!" he gave up, getting into his bed and under covers. "Just make sure you're back in my sisters'room before morning. Dad'll be waking you up for Christmas." He thought he heard a muffled affirmative response come from the closet.

Well, at least life was never boring with Rukia around.

***

_Christmas Morning_

_Kurosaki household_

"IIIICHIGOOOOO!!!!!"

Ichigo 'umphed' loudly as the forty-something man landed on his son's stomach in his own version of a wake-up called.

"You insane Old man!" Ichigo cursed at him as he doubled over, clutching his stomach.

"Getting a little rusty, my son!"

"I was sleeping! You maniac!" he barked at him.

"Now now!" his father shook a finger at him. "Is that any way to speak in front of your sisters and the lovely Rukia-chan!" The hyper man slid to the side, revealing three girls- one worriedly glancing at Ichigo, one wearing a big fake smile, and another one rolling her eyes at everything- standing at the doorway. "Get off your lazy butt and come downstairs! It's time to see what Santa brought you!"

The Old man continued to refer to Santa as a living creature, even though the last of the Kurosaki children stopped believing in Santa Claus at least two years ago.

Ichigo groaned but moved to go downstairs anyway.

*

The whole process was completely monotone with the exception of Rukia's presence. In that time, Rukia had been surprised by gifts from both his sisters and his father, she smiled and apologized for not having gotten any of _them_ gifts, due to her 'overwhelming stack of schoolwork and studying she just had to do!' Of course her school-girl voice, which Ichigo hated almost as much as his fathers morning wake-up calls, earned her the full trust of every Kurosaki. Except Ichigo, of course, who scowled the entire time.

"Well, I'm heading out." Ichigo announced after the whole 'present' fiasco was over.

His dad gaped at him. "Whaaat?! You're not going to stay with your beloved family on this most special occasion?!"

Resisting the urge to go back and give his dad a real reason to whine, he ignored him, grabbed a thick jacket from his room, then headed back out and into the cold morning.

His mind was instantly filled with thoughts of his mother. Of how she always seemed to glow during Christmas Day, even in the blistering cold. Now snow could match her sunny smile. It was contagious too, everyone in the house just felt so…happy with her around.

Ichigo looked down at his feet, feeling the sadness that he had known would come wash over him.

How he missed her…

Barely a few steps away from his house, he felt, more than heard, Rukia jogging up to his side.

"Shouldn't you be inside doing your huge amounts of _schoolwork _that kept all your time so occupied?" He said in annoyance. He wanted to be left alone in his thoughts. Even if his thoughts made him ache and fill with despair.

Sparing a look to his side, he saw that Rukia was wearing a warm looking soft lilac sweater that he'd seen Yuzu knitting a week or so earlier, and a red Santa Claus hat. She was smiling.

"I _was_ occupied. I'm a shinigami, after all. I wouldn't expect _you_ to understand." She said proudly, making his eye twitch.

"If you just came out here to annoy me, you might as well get back in the house."

"That's not why I came out here." this time, there was a huge smirk on her face, and for the first time, Ichigo noticed her hands were hiding something behind her back.

"Huh? What-"

"Surprise!" she said joyfully, holding a bright box in his face. "Merry Christmas, Ichigo!"

Ichigo's eyes were wide as he stared at the box in Rukia's hands. It was crudely wrapped, obviously done by herself, and the paper was bright green with strawberries sprawled all over it.

Despite the annoyance he should have felt, there was a warm kinda fuzziness going through him now…

Rukia looked proudly at her creation as Ichigo took it and began unwrapping it.

"A… rabbit?" he stared at the furry plushie in his hands, then back at Rukia, who smirked in triumph.

"Yes! From the limited edition Chappy collection! These are real hard to come by," She started in what he sometimes referred to as 'her noble voice'. "not just anyone can get their hands on one. Nii-sama even had to pull some strings-"

"_Byakuya_ helped you get this?" Ichigo asked in shock.

Rukia nodded in smiling victory again.

He should have felt like it was the silliest thing in the world. He should have been laughing over the whole situation. Or at least scowling at her for interrupting him at the time when he had wished for solitude. But instead, he watched her with a soft expression, his brown eyes warmly looking at the gloating girl before him. She had her eyes closed and continued to rant in all her pride about how she came to get the acclaimed Chappy. Ichigo suddenly felt the urge to hug the annoying girl. He barely stopped himself from doing so.

"Thanks, Rukia." he said with untintended feeling showing in his voice. It made her suddenly stop her long speech and open her huge eyes to really look at him in surprise.

"You're welcome, Ichigo." she said, matching his feeling. She didn't need to ask anything, she just knew. She always understood him. A small, genuine smile light her face.

He suddenly felt warm again. Like that Christmas long ago.

"Look Ichigo!" Rukia suddenly looked up excitedly and tugged at his arm with childish glee. "It's snowing!" He was surprised at her sudden joy.

Her violet eyes sparkled in wonder as she gazed at the falling snow. She seemed to happy to even notice herself shiver, until she felt the heavy jacket being draped around her with a care that contradicted the scowl on Ichigo's face. "If you're gonna stand around in snow you're at least supposed to dress for it." he reprimanded with annoyance both of them knew he didn't really feel.

Rukia looked a littled startled at first, then she gratefully hugged the jacket tighter around her petite form, then proceeded to look at the sky again.

He didn't know how long they just stood there, in warm, comfortable silence that he could only ever share with _her._

He would have liked to stay there forever. Just the two of them. As it should be.

But as it was, the snow had already created a thin white carpet beneath their feet, and even if he couldn't feel it right now, he knew that his jacket-less state would come back to haunt him in the form of an infernal cold.

"We should go back inside now." he said, not looking away from the falling snow.

"Rukia?" this time looking down at her.

"Hmm?" she snapped out of her reverie and looked back at him. "Oh. Right. Yeah, you're right. Let's go." She agreed, gazing longily at the flying flakes.

Walking into the house, Ichigo was surprised to find his father sprawled on the floor, with Yuzu wrapped tightly in his arm and Karin laying comfortably on his belly.

Rukia smiled softly at the scene, and Ichigo left and came back with a couple of blankets. He threw one over his sleeping family.

"Come on." he said to Rukia. "Let's go watch some Christmas specials on TV." He led the way to the place where the TV sat, then sank into the couch in front of it. Rukia sat right next to him, and he used the remaining blanket to cover himself and Rukia as the TV played cliché movies and warm family moments on the nearly muted screen.

Neither of them really watched though. They just sat enjoying each other's warmth in more ways than one.

After a while, sleep started to overcome them. At some point, Ichigo wound up sprawled across the length of the couch, with Rukia laying on his chest, one hand over him, the other tightly hugging the Chappy plush she'd given him.

Before fully succumbing to sleep, Ichigo muttered "Merry Christmas, Rukia."

xX**The End**Xx

**A/N There goes my second attempt at an Ichiruki oneshot. Dang I suck at this! But still, I think it was an improvement over my first attempt. Well, there you have it. I actually kinda liked the end, if I had any competent skill, I would have drawn the scene on the couch! Oh well, we must live with the talents God gave us!**

**Tell me what you think, Kay?**

**Please try not to be too harsh if you're gonna flame. Constructive Criticism is always welcome! ****J**


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